Slowly Getting Back to Sewing (and Blogging)

Since this is my first blog post in MONTHS...I should probably explain what has kept me away for so long. As many of you know, I have struggled with hidradenitis suppurativa, and unfortunately one of the treatments is massive doses of steroids. If you flip back through these blogs you can also see me growing in size from said steroids. Go through them fast, it's like a cartoon! Last summer I made the decision that I was going to seek alternate treatments and attempt to reverse the weight gain from the steroids. To that end, I started riding my bike. Not very far at first, but working up to 20 miles at a time. Because my weight was fluctuating so much, I basically quit sewing anything at all, because it wasn't worth the effort to try and fit anything.

When winter arrived, I had to seek out other outlets, and started working with a personal trainer who specializes in kettlebell. I also joined a roller derby league. Yes, roller derby. In fact, it was roller derby that rekindled my interest in sewing, because I was asked to make "helmet panties," the helmet covers that denote who can score points in a jam:

After completing many, many sets of "panties," I was bitten by the creative bug once again and started sewing for myself. The first thing I did was start finishing up the UFOs that were lying around the sewing room, including a charmeuse tunic I had started on in June.

This tunic was inspired by a Pucci tunic that I saw online some time in 2010. Of course, it was much too expensive for me, so I thought...I can make that.

I have long contended that sewing does not save money. However, that is not an entirely accurate statement. In today's world of discount retailers like Old Navy/Target/WalMart/Cato and their massive inventories of cheap goods manufactured in overseas factories without care for basic human needs such as a minimum wage or laws against child labor...there is no way that a home sewer can beat the prices. $30.00 jeans and $8.00 t-shirts? Fabric alone is more expensive.

On the other hand...if your skills are good, you can refine the fit of patterns, and you are willing to take on more complex designs, you can make some beautiful garments that are similar to designer goods. For example, this Pucci tunic retails for $885.00:

$885.00!! For a shirt!!! Gorgeous though it may be, there is NO WAY that I would ever spend that much on a single item of clothing (even if I COULD afford it). I am sure that it is made from a scrumptious silk...that is probably so delicate I would fear to wear it.

On the other hand, I am a complete SUCKER for a charmeuse. So many fabric retailers have available an incredible number of vibrant fabrics...and let's face it, I just cannot pass up a wild charmeuse, even if it is polyester. Plus, I have a trick for sewing with charmeuse that doesn't work on dry-clean only silk....

If you have a slippery, slithery poly charmeuse that is fighting you while you are trying to work with it...just starch the heck out of it. When I have a charmeuse that I want to sew, I hang the whole length of fabric over the shower rod and just spray it all with heavy starch. Let it dry, and then cut out your pattern. It will stay stiff, and won't slip and slide all over while you are trying to sew.

Anyway, given $15.00 worth of poly charmeuse and an OOP McCalls pattern, a reasonable facsimile of said Pucci tunic can be made:

It feels great to be back in the sewing room...and there are dozens more UFOs to work on. Hopefully, I'll have some more updates soon...

Finding and Following RTW Trends

Normally when I am purchasing fabric and planning projects, I make an attempt to locate something similar through snoop shopping some of my favorite RTW locations. One of the reasons that I do this is because if your goal is to make something that is current, fashionable, and cannot be readily identified as handmade...it is important to make sure that you are following current trends. Some of the things that I look for in snoop shopping are:

1. Fabric type
2. Colors and prints
3. Details like buttons and embellishments
   

For example, patterns often make recommendations for buttons that are much larger than what you typically see in RTW clothing. Also, fabric stores do not necessarily carry all the current trends/prints in fabrics. When I deviate from following the "rules," I find that I start to cross the line into "Becky Home-Ecky," as Michael Kors says on Project Runway.

My most recent project is one of the best examples I have put together lately of following the RTW trends.

Earlier in spring, I had saved to my "inspiration" folder the following shirt that I had seen on the Anthropologie website:


Then...I found some really nice cotton lawn on the FFC website:


Combine this with Hot Patterns 1043, the Vintage HotPatterns Boho Deluxe Peasant Top:


And....voila! My Anthropologie knockoff!


Unlike the newer Hot Patterns, this one has un-illustrated instructions that are separate from the rest of the pattern sheets. Even though, I found the top to be easy to put together. It is a simple raglan sleeve top, just like one of a million I have put together before. There are two options for necklines, a flat neck band with the shirt gathered onto it, or a casing with gathering. I opted for the flat neck band since it looked a little more finished to me. Be sure to make yourself a "tag," otherwise you can't really tell the front from the back!


I got impatient sewing it...and when I didn't have the right color thread, rather than wait for a trip to the fabric store I just used white thread. I think it looks fine:


As always with new Hot Patterns, I always sew a muslin. There is nothing really to show here, other than my proof that I am actually SEWING FROM STASH!


The only thing I learned from the muslin was that I needed to contour the side seams more, and shorten the top by 2 inches. It's actually pretty handy using a plaid for muslins because the grid helped me move the alterations from the top to the pattern...you always have a line or some other marker that you can measure to or from. Oh, I also learned that I am too damn old for tiny puff sleeves. No worries, though, the shirt will not go unloved...a co-worker has already laid claim to it!

Happy Snoop Shopping, All!

Another Summer Tunic, Simplicity 2365

It seems that tunics are kind of my "thing" this summer. I have already completed two others, and this weekend I finished up a version of Simplicity 2365, a tunic with shoulder princess seams and a pintucked bodice. 2365 is very similar to Simplicity 3786, except 2635 has a center back seam. I had initially purchased 3786, but noticed the lack of shaping to the back and reconsidered.


Simplicity 2365 is one of those patterns that suffer from some really unattractive pattern art...which seems to obscure the fairly nice lines of the pattern (not the one with the belt, that one is awful). Sometimes the line drawings can be so frumpy...Kwik Sew is guilty of this, too. I pass them over all the time for being old fashioned...until I see a review on PR that looks fabulous and I have to go back and reconsider.

Fortunately for me and my tunic obsession, it also seems that tunics are popular in RTW this season. For example, I found one with similar pintucks on Bluefly.com:


Bright colors and florals are certainly in right now:


Given that, I felt fairly confident that the tunic that I was making would not be off-trend for the season:


I used a floral printed dotted swiss, in shades of pink and white:


I used the sleeve option with the button tab that would hold them when they were rolled up. My grandma loved these kinds of sleeves. Think I will immediately start tucking kleenex up my sleeves and complaining about being cold?


I also used french seams throughout so that it would look cleaner when the sleeves were rolled up and also so a serged seam would not show through the light-weight fabric. I even managed a french seam on the armscye...something that I hadn't attempted before. Starting with that skinny seam allowance actually made easing the sleeve cap a lot easier, I may just start doing this all the time:


I ordered a couple more lawns from the recent sale on cottons at Fashion Fabrics Club, one could be a ringer for the navy and white Anthropologie tunic pictured above. Hopefully I'll get a few more summer shirts out of the way before it gets too hot. I also have been working on some alterations to the Hot Patterns Summer in the City shirt...stay tuned...it is massively different than the first version! I also need to put together a few pairs of drawstring pants to slouch around in...so I'll have quite a bit of sewing on my plate the next few weeks.

New HotPatterns Shirt

This weekend I completed HotPatterns 1108, the "Weekender Sunshine Summer in the City Shirt, Tunic and Dress." I made the shirt version. Here is the pattern art:


And here is the description from the HotPatterns website:

"Easy, breezy and totally gorgeous shirt style, this works best in drapey shirt weight fabrics like soft chambray, rayon, crepe, silk twill, washed linen, voile, or even a knit jersey.

Semi-fitted shirt has classic collar and stand; front and back are gathered onto a yoke. Choose from 3 lengths...shirt, tunic or shirtdress, all finished with a shirt-tail hem. Shirt offers 3 different short sleeve options... rolled up with buttoned strap; elasticated; and ruched with self fabric drawstring.

Perfect for casual weekend looks but also great for low-key day or evening outfits, this beautifully relaxed style is a must-have addition to your HotPatterns wardrobe...wear the dress version belted for a casually chic outfit; try the shirt version tucked into a slick pencil skirt and wear the tunic version over slim or relaxed-fit cropped or rolled-up pants."

From my experience with this pattern, I can say that you must follow the fabric recommendations. I think that mine might even have been a bit stiff. I'll launder it a couple of times to see if the gathers calm down, but I pressed the gathers down on the back to keep it from "pouffing" (of course, if you watch the video posted on the website, Trudy's pouffs on the back, too).

Number two, there was a little oddness when attaching the shirt fronts to the yoke. If I matched the notches exactly...this is what I ended up with:

The portion to the left in the image is the shirt front (button placket to the top of the image) and the yoke is to the right. You can see there is a bit of offset at the end of the yoke. So, I did this:


And that seemed to work perfectly fine, the end of the yoke seam is hidden in the collar stand, and the collar stand fits perfectly. Here is the finished shirt:


The sleeves look a bit forlorn just hanging there on the mannequin, but in reality they are quite cute. I guess you could say they are kind of a modified Kimono sleeve.

Here is the shirt from the back:


You can see that the back is heavily gathered. The gathers are a much softer look than pleats.

And here is the shirt ready to go to work:


You can see the length since I opted not to tuck it in. This is the shirt length. I found the shirt to be a bit roomier than what I normally wear, being a bit heavy I normally try to avoid extra volume in my clothes. To minimize the volume I ended up belting it to wear it to work today.

There also seems to me to be a little too much fabric under the arms...I know that with a kimono-type sleeve there is always going to be fabric folded under the arms, but I thought that I could minimize that in a second version (I started the alterations this evening after work, which everything was fresh in my mind).

When I make it again I will make two changes:

1. I will use a significantly smaller size. I cut a 16 based on my measurements (and this is why you should always make a muslin, of course, I didn't) and I have a LOT of extra width, which bunches up under the arms. I realize that with the drop shoulders this is going to happen regardless, but I just feel that it is a bit too much. The neck is also a touch big, so I think I might go down as far as a 12 for a second version.
   
2. I will eliminate some of the fullness in the back and contour the side seams more. Right now, the shirt cannot be worn unless it is belted or tucked in...although if I get pregnant this will be my "go to" (banish the thought, I'm too old and my eggs are expired). Not that this is necessarily a problem, I have lots of shirts I only wear tucked in...but if I were to make the tunic length it would be intended to be worn out...not tucked. And right now the fullness is fine for the dress or for the shirt, because either of those would be tucked in or belted.

Overall, a nice addition to the wardrobe for the summer...not to mention, I used fabric as well as buttons from stash...Yay for not buying more stuff!

The Worst Blogger in the World

Yes! It is Me!

Seriously, I am THE WORST. I have been a terrible blogger, and an even WORSE blog-friend. I haven't had any time to comment on any one's blogs; I'm reading...but no one knows that if you aren't commenting.

My excuses are lame....too busy at work, too busy at home. I finally have all the car issues settled, and the moment that that was all dealt with, I heard from the furniture store that the couch that I ordered (and paid for, mind you) in DECEMBER was now ready for delivery. I tell you, this this the last time I order custom furniture. From now on, if it's not on the floor and ready for pick-up, I don't want it. I am discovering that I am not a "custom couch" kinda gal.

On the other hand, new furniture does in turn require a full "re-do" of the living room. Which in turn required lots and lots of fabric samples.

The couch is red...so the "main" fabric for the room will be this one:


Of course, this matches NOTHING that is already in the room. In fact, the red of the couch makes the drapes (which are actually maroon) look brown:


So, I spent some time on Fabric.com, and ordered some half-yard lengths to see what combinations of fabrics would be good in the room. I decided on this combination:


I haven't quite decided on where the furniture will go in the room, not to mention the old furniture is shoved into the entryway until my brother gets his tail over here to pick it up, but here is what the fabrics might look like in the room:


And here are the samples that didn't make the cut:


So, I will have a few projects for the living room coming up...not the least of which is getting rid of the beige carpet that now matches nothing. Of course, I have no idea what is under it and am completely prepared that what I might have to resort to is a painted floor until it can be replaced with hardwood. In the meantime, I can start planning my pillows and curtains. Oh, and never fear that the samples will go to waste, because I also got the pattern for the Amy Butler Gum Drop Pillows:


I have enough fabric that I can use a different one on each panel, which might be a good way to work in some of the wilder fabrics that I got samples for. Not that I need to add any extra seating with the ridiculously huge couch....

In other news, sewing lessons with my friend Michelle continue. She has successfully completed two shirts, and she is in the process of making a dress. Today she texted me...with a photo...of the Singer 503 she bought today. I think we have a convert!

Another Version of McCall's 5556

This weekend I finished a second version of the McCall's tunic. To review the necessary alterations:

1. Cut 16, even though my measurements are larger.
   
2. Lowered the bust darts by two inches
   
3. Shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length

In this version I used a contrast for the collar and hem bands:


The main fabric was an eyelet with black embroidery that I got off the sale table at Jackman's fabric. Jackman's is an independent fabric store here in town that is mainly a quilting and upholstery fabric store. They have a really small apparel fabric section that is mainly focused on bridal and special occasion, but every now and then you can find some real gems...which always seem to appear only on the sale table. Every time I go in I find something great, like this eyelet, non-flimsy stretch denim, khaki tencel twill, and printed chiffon.


The little fiddly bits on the trim are much easier if you starch the heck out of it and press the edges under. Doing that makes it a lot simpler to do all the edgestitching, and keep it neat. I still have to work on making better loops. I think I made them a touch big...and wish I could have made the tubes smaller. I think if I cut them on the bias, once I get them turned I could stretch them out and make them narrower.

Finally, here is the tunic "on the hoof."


I think for my next project I will make a pair of white linen pants for summer using the Hot Patterns Marrakesh Drawstring pants pattern:


I feel like the tunics call for a slouchy pant, and I have a 3 yard length of white linen in my stash...now I just need to find some white lining fabric for the pockets.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, and as always, more later....

A Little Bit of Sewing...A Little Bit of Procrastinating

I took a little break from working on my trenchcoat (because all I have left to do is line it, and I hate making linings) to fill a hole in my wardrobe...spring tops. At this rate, I will have the spring trench done in time for NEXT spring, but sometimes you just don't "feel" a project, you know? And as for the trench, I'm just not "feeling it" right now. So, I started another project...a tunic.

I had been seeing a lot of tunics online, and wanted to make something other than a button-down woven shirt, or a pull on knit shirt...which seems to be the only kind of shirts I make. I also had some batiste in the stash that was far too flimsy for a button-down, but would do well for a tunic.

I had McCall's 5556 in my stash, an OOP tunic pattern.


I'm actually quite surprised to see this out of print given the similarity to, for example, current hot Tory Burch tunics:


Anyway, I decided to make the view with 3/4 sleeves, and the standing collar:


I used a lime-green batiste in my stash, and I also had some green shell buttons lurking about:


In my attempts to photograph this, I gained huge sympathy for online fabric vendors...no matter what I did, I couldn't get the camera to "read" the color correctly. In all my photos it looks far more chartreuse than the soft green than it is in real life.


I ended up cutting a 16 regardless of the fact that my measurements fall in the range of a 20...there is plenty of ease in this garment. I also found that I needed to lower the bust darts, and shorten the sleeves. On me, they are not the nice 3/4 length in the pattern image, but somewhere between 3/4 length and bracelet length.

The bands on the collar and hems are all attached in ways that hide the seams, which is a nice touch. I only used the serger on the armscyes and the side seams.

I didn't have any trouble assembling the tunic but I will say markings are IMPERATIVE. It is pretty much impossible to assemble without every single marking transferred correctly. Also, make sure you follow the instructions to the letter...snip everywhere they tell you to, and reinforce where they say, otherwise those bands will make you want to curse and throw things. If you mark properly, and assemble in the order they instruct, it falls right together. I also used a lot of starch while I pressing under seam allowances and such, which is really helpful and comes right out with the first wash.

I also have a second version in the works using a white eyelet with black embroidery and black trim...I then decided that a tunic like that will require a pair of slouchy white linen pants...so I have ready my pattern for the HotPatterns Marrakesh pant ready to go.

Once I have this out of my system, I'll go back to my trench.

Although I did buy the white linen for the pants, everything except for the black batiste for the trim on the second shirt, all the fabrics (trench, lining, green batisted, embroidery/eyelet) came from stash and were all parts of the coordinated sets I made for summer planning/sewing.

Once I have a few more things together, I'll make sure I get more photos.

If you celebrate, have a Happy Easter. I do not, but will happily partake of a ham at my mother's house later today and will probably have an unholy tantrum if there is not at least a chocolate bunny for me when I get there (apparently, my mother decided that 35 was the age at which one should have outgrown easter baskets. Who makes up these rules, anyway??). I am also officially the "lame aunt," since I got books for each of my nieces and nephews. No candy, no toys, just books. Yes, I am "that aunt," the one that gives educational gifts. Hopefully, far cooler relatives than I will buy them all toys and candy.